On the Inside of a Dream
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: Yu Yevon's dream had to end so that Spira could be free from the nightmare that was Sin. Auron knew this. And entering Sin itself, it turned out that he and his companions weren't the only ones who knew it.


**On the Inside of a Dream**

Like a city of dreams. That was how Yuna had described this area of Sin. Tidus, on the other hand, had compared it to Zanarkand. And walking through the city, Auron found himself inclined to agree with both of them.

There was something…off, about the city he thought, and not only because he was walking in a city located inside the most deadly creature Spira had ever known. Not so much in that he was walking inside a city at all located in the interior of the most destructive creature ever seen on Spira, but rather, it was the…feeling. It was the same feeling he'd had in the Zanarkand Jecht had come from, the feeling he'd experienced as soon as he'd arrived. The people were there. The city was there. It was probably exactly as the real Zanarkand had been 1000 years ago. Yet…it wasn't real. And even if he wasn't aware of it through words, he supposed he would have still been aware of it in his mind.

And yet now he walked, as the group rested. Soon they would enter Sin's nucleus. Soon they would find Jecht. Yu Yevon. The dream would end. This city, a dream within a dream, constructed from the mind of Yu Yevon, Jecht, or both, would end. The cycle of death would end.

_And I'll die._

The former warrior monk smirked. Death. He was looking forward to it.

"Are you real?"

But only if he died after Spira and its people had been given a shot at life. Until then, he had to live (or as close to being alive as an unsent could be). So after hearing the voice, he gripped the hilt of his blade.

"Are you real?" the voice repeated.

Auron remained silent. So far, aside from his companions, he'd only heard one voice inside Sin, and that voice had belonged to a madman. So as he found the source of the voice, as he saw the source of the voice, he kept his grasp on the hilt.

"Are you part of the dream?" the voice asked.

The voice…no, he couldn't call it "the voice." He might as well see the voice for what it was, that belonging to a young girl. Brown hair, clean clothes, brown eyes…and like the city, there was something off about her as well. She reminded Auron of the people he'd known in Zanarkand. They looked real. Sounded real. Acted real. But they weren't.

"Or are you dreaming too?"

Auron released his grasp. The people of Zanarkand…Tidus and Jecht were of those people. He'd given Jecht the benefit of the doubt, and he'd taken it upon himself to become Braska's aeon. He'd given Tidus the benefit of the doubt, and the kid had risen to the occasion, being the right person in the right place to steer Yuna away from the cycle of death. The cycle that Yunalesca and Yevon had been just as guilty of perpetrating as Sin itself.

"I'm real," he said. "What's your name?"

"My name," the girl whispered. "I…might have dreamt it once."

Auron frowned – Seymour had been insane, but he at least remembered his own namesake.

"Ar…"

And he still had no idea who the girl was, or what she was doing in Sin. Was she another unsent who had somehow gained entry to the creature? A summoner who had been taken into Yu Yevon's living armour, and was now part of the dream itself? Or perhaps, like Jecht, a final aeon? A ghost of a ghost.

"My name is…"

Auron couldn't remember the name of every summoner who had given their lives to defeat Sin. He doubted anyone on Spira did. And how many guardians had died also, he wondered? At least one guardian for every summoner who did battle with the creature at least. And guardians could easily be killed on the road to Zanarkand.

"My name is Ariane," the girl said. She met his gaze. "Are you part of the dream?"

"No," Auron replied – he didn't know of any summoner or guardian named "Ariane." Maybe somewhere, sometime on Spira a girl named Ariane had been alive, but if so, there would be no means of remembering her. "I'm here to end the dream."

The girl giggled. "Oh no, the dream can't end. The dream folds. Like a spinning top, round and round. Or the chess piece…eight by eight…sixty-four…no sixty-five, or sixty-three…"

Auron sighed. A dream, a memory, some trick that Sin was performing, he didn't know. But he knew madness when he saw it.

"Look!" the girl cried. "It folds!"

She pointed out an arm, and Auron followed it. And for the first time in what felt like forever, he didn't know what to say. Or even what to _think_.

"Always folding, always turning. The dream continues. Dreams enter dreams. Does the nightmare end?"

The city was…folding. As if some kind of giant hand had scooped it up, and was tearing it apart. It was destruction, but-

"A new dream begins. Do the old dreams die? Do memories end? When does dream become nightmare?"

But it was also creation. Because as the city folded, he saw that nothing was actually damaged. The dream was maintained. Soon, half the city was at a right angle to the other half. And not a single bit of actual damage had been done to it.

"And the dream continues. Folded, clad in armour." The girl grasped his hand, her eyes boring into his, right through his glasses. "Armour, and armour. Always more armour. The protection against reality's intrusion."

Auron winced – he wasn't used to such close contact. He hadn't enjoyed it for…for…

_I don't remember._

He glanced out at the city. On the way here, the group had to deal with pillars moving up and down. Had this been the girl's work as well?

"And the dream becomes a new dream," she said, flexing her arm. The city began moving back to its original state. As if nothing had changed. "Or is it the same dream? Can you re-dream a former dream? Can dreams be made? Controlled?"

"Auron!"

It was Tidus, calling to him. Had they seen the city fold as he had? Or was it just a matter of perception? Like a dream, known only to the dreamer themselves?

"Auron!"

It didn't matter, he supposed. They were ready. Grabbing his sword, he realized that he was ready as well. To end death, as well as die.

"Please!"

The girl grabbed his arm again. And he hesitated.

"Will you end it?" she whispered. "Will you end the dream?"

Auron remained impassive, and looked at those eyes. Not the eyes of insanity, but of desperation. The same eyes he had seen in every Spiran. The eyes that could show insanity if the spiral of death ended.

"Will you end it?"

Auron nodded. "I'll end it," he said softly. "The dream will end."

"And the nightmare?"

"Spira's nightmare will end."

"Thank you," she whispered. She let go of his arm, sliding back into the shadows. "End the dream, so that people may dream. End the nightmare. No more dreams. No more…"

Auron nodded, even as he heard Tidus again. He didn't know who the girl was. He wouldn't ever know. Unless he gave his companions the unnecessary distraction of their existence, they wouldn't know either. And he supposed that was how it was meant to be.

All dreams eventually ended. And as horrific as they were, even nightmares.

Even nightmares like Sin.

* * *

><p><em>AN_

_I've heard it said that _Final Fantasy X _had a problem of being weird for weirdness's sake. And while I do think it definately has flaws, I wouldn't really list that as one of them, at least as far as the interior of Sin goes. Case in point being the City of Dreams - is it Yu Yevon's dream? Jecht's? Something else? Could the Sea of Sorrow be a metaphor for Spira as a whole, representing the sorrow Sin brings to the world, mostly across its coasts? But anyway, such analysis aside, something that reminded me of _Inception _within the city was the pillars that move up and down, kind of like the folding city imagery from the film. So as a result of said analysis, ended up writing this as a result._


End file.
